He has lived here in Djilor, the tiny village where he was born, for all of his 56 years. Like 70% of the population of Senegal, he raises cattle.

But these are more than cows.

For Mr Ba and his family they are livelihood, larder, wealth, status and retirement fund. They are everything.

It is a common story across Africa. So when those animals are stolen, some families are left in such dire circumstances that cases of suicide are not unheard of.

The last time the cattle rustlers struck, Mr Ba lost seven animals. He was lucky. About 120 were taken that night.

"It was very hard for us but we had to accept it. They were stolen when they were returning to the field after drinking here at home," he says.

"We looked for months with the help of neighbours, we looked in all the districts and villages around, and we didn't find them. We decided in despair that we had lost them."

Farmer Abdoul Ba says he knows of at least three people who have killed rustlers trying to steal their cattle

Mr Ba lives in a compound with the rest of his extended family in the heart of Djilor

These cows are the lucky ones - they sleep in the village rather than tethered in distant pastures

Follow the herd

In a country that relies heavily on agriculture - an estimated 490bn CFA francs ($1bn, £592m) of livestock roam the countryside - this is a problem that goes beyond individual families to the industry as a whole.

And it is something the government, not just the cattle farmers, wants to stamp out.

Amadou Sow had the original idea for Daral

After taking a class in computers, Amadou Sow realised: "The problems that the farmers face could be solved by technology."

So he decided to go to Dakar and talk to the people at Microsoft about his idea, and see if they would help. They decided they probably could.

This was the seed from which Daral - which means "cattle market" in the Wolof language - grew. The application is a collaboration between Microsoft 4Afrika, non-governmental organisation Coders4Africa, and a team of young developers.

You won't find many high-speed internet connections in the middle of rural Senegal, so it relies heavily on mobile phone technology.

Mobile phone ownership is ever-increasing in sub-Saharan Africa - there are masts even in the most rural of areas

"If you take 10 African people... three have computers, but if you take the same 10 we have 10 African people with 10 mobiles," says Coders4Africa's Leger Djiba.

"We are sure that the best way to give information, to deliver information, is using mobile."

The application is designed to gather livestock data for the Senegalese ministry of livestock, with the aim of protecting cattle from theft and monitoring their health.

Animals are registered on a web-based application, which generates a unique number, and a photo can be uploaded with a description. In the field, project representatives connect laptops to the web using a mobile broadband dongle.

If the animal should fall victim to rustlers, the farmer can then contact police and have a region-wide SMS alert sent out using his basic mobile handset.

Virtual veg

mLouma serves farmers who live far from busy urban marketplaces such as Dakar's Marche Kermel

The first product on mLouma's marketplace was onions

Aboubacar Sidy Sonko's parents are farmers. So when France Telecom launched a competition for young developers, he used their experience as inspiration.

The result, mLouma, is an online produce marketplace that has already won multiple awards in Africa and beyond.

Aboubacar Sidy Sonko in his Dakar office at the CTIC incubator

It provides a secure way for farmers to sell their produce directly to buyers in the cities at market price, rather than being short-changed by visiting produce buyers.

Goods to sell are uploaded by SMS or through a mobile app, so expensive equipment is not necessary.

"We know that around 70% of Senegalese work in agriculture. They are making very good things, products of quality," says Mr Sidy Sonko.

"But they are in places where they are invisible. The second problem is intermediaries who offer producers low prices. In the face of this, technology gives farmers the ability to have people in Dakar, in Paris, anywhere, see what they are doing."

Having started with onion farmers, the company is now expanding and working out better ways for their producers to get their goods to buyers.

Gathering at dusk to talk before preparing for evening prayers in Djilor

Now is the time for Senegal's start-ups to look to agriculture, Mr Sidy Sonko says.

"There is a real potential; we think it's the moment for people to use technology to help those at the bottom of the pyramid," he says. "The impact is the growth of the producers' income. It's a considerable impact.

Djilor's PCR - or president - Omar Ba

"There needs to be lots of solutions like mLouma here in Senegal," he adds.

Back in Djilor, the farmers there may well agree. As they gather just before dusk under a large tree in front of the village mosque, the talk is of a simple question of survival.

"It's very serious because it raises a lot of concern for your family. It's really hard to lose your cattle, after great expectations you just realise that you lost everything and it's really difficult to face," says village president Omar Ba.